Business

On Saturday, November 28, 2015, start your holiday season off right by scheduling installation of Christmas decorations by A Yard & A Half Landscaping Cooperative. We can prepare your home or business for holiday festivities with indoor and outdoor arrangements of evergreens, berries, and branches; roping, wreathes, and kissing balls; holiday landscape lighting; poinsettias; and even Christmas tree delivery. As a thank you for supporting small and locally-owned businesses, if you contact us on Small…

On Tues Oct 27, 2015, the Brookline Board of Selectmen took a vote of no action on Warranty Article 10, which would place a year-round ban all gas-powered blowers. The article was amended to exempt Town crews, the country club and golf course, but still was not recommended by the board. (Update: on 11/18/15, the Town Meeting voted to refer the question to a moderator’s committee. More details and background here.) As a company concerned…

In the month of April, Future Boston is running a series of guest posts about the Cooperative sector and how we are transforming the Boston economy. We appreciated the opportunity to share our perspective, along with our friends at Restoring Roots Permaculture Co-Op. The most exciting thing about becoming a worker-owned cooperative is seeing each member blossom as an owner, and seeing a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Two weeks after the…

In the process of funding our worker-cooperative, we found ourselves making the case again and again for the economic and social value of coops. This little infographic shares a little of what we learned about the cooperative difference: Data from: http://teamworks.coop/pdf/taking_root_june2012.pdf http://www.cooperativefund.org/sites/default/files/CFNE%20and%20the%20Cooperative%20Response%20to%20Economic%20Crisis.pdf http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/how-cooperatives-are-driving-the-new-economy/just-the-facts-what-s-so-good-about-co-ops http://www.esopinfo.org/infographics/economic-power-of-employee-ownership.php http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/are-baby-boomers-ready-to-exit-their-businesses http://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/coops/index.html

When you shop locally, 50% more of your money remains in the local economy, creating jobs and increasing wages for your neighbors. Skip the big box stores and national chains on Cyber Monday, and instead go local today for Small Business Saturday. Here are links to Boston-area cities with LocalFirst initiatives: Arlington Brookline Cambridge / Somerville Jamaica Plain Needham Newton (free parking in Newton Center today) Ironically, a large credit card processor has partnered with the Small…

I usually listen to Chris Brogan‘s podcast because he has great stuff to say about being a human doing business with humans. But I have to share yesterday’s episode with you because he’s talking sustainability with John Blue of Truffle Media. Listen here. The real juicy part for me was around minutes 18-26, where John goes into some background on the National Organic Program, and the increasingly meaningless use of words like “natural”, “sustainable”, “local”, and “family-owned”….